Feasibility of peer support services among people with severe mental illness in China

Abstract

BackgroundPeer-delivered services potentially provide broad, multifaceted benefits for persons suffering severe mental illness. Most studies to date have been conducted in countries with well-developed outpatient mental health systems. The objective of this study was to examine the feasibility for developing a community-based peer service in China.MethodsThirteen peer service providers and 54 consumers were recruited from four communities in Beijing. We initiated the program in two communities, followed by another two in order to verify and add to our understanding of potential scalable feasibility. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted 12 month after initiation at each site to measure satisfaction and perceived benefits from perspectives of peer service providers, and consumers and their caregivers.ResultsKey stakeholders reported that peer support services were satisfying and beneficial. Eleven of 13 peer service providers were willing to continue in their roles. Ten, 8, and 7 of them perceived improvements in working skills, social communication skills, and mood, respectively. Among consumers, 39 of 54 were satisfied with peer services. Improvements in mood, social communication skills, illness knowledge, and illness stability were detected among 23, 18, 13, and 13 consumers, respectively. For caregivers, 31 of 32 expressed a positive view regarding peer services. Caregivers reported improvement in their own mood, confidence in recovery of their family members, and reduction in caretaker burdens.ConclusionsThe findings highlight that peer-delivered services have promise in China for benefiting persons with severe mental illness and their family caregivers, as well as the peer service providers themselves.

Peer-to-peer contact, social support and self-stigma among people with severe mental illness in Hong Kong

“…Contact with recovered peers may offer information and emotional resources, thereby eliminating the barriers of recovery (McLeod et al, 2019). Evidence suggests that contact with recovered peers is one of the most effective mechanisms to challenge stereotypes and discrimination through sharing worthy experience, positive knowledge and effective coping skills, thus improving hope, self-efficacy, together with reducing self-stigma (Corrigan & Rao, 2012; Fan et al, 2019; McLeod et al, 2019; Pyle et al, 2018). Thus, positive peer contact may be perceived as active, equal, friendly and supportive and has emerged as key instrument for mutual relationships between persons with mental illness and peer support intervention.…”

A Longitudinal Qualitative Analysis of the Way Peer Support Specialist Roles Change Over Time in a Psychiatric Hospital Setting in Asia

“…However, other Asian nations have been slow to embrace the movement. In China and India the feasibility of such peer support work has only recently been the focus of dedicated research (Yunge Fan et al, 2019 ; Pathare et al, 2018 ; Yu et al, 2018 ). While authors note the potential benefits of peer support ideologies, they also note the cultural barriers and accompanying lack of investment.…”

The Feasibility of a Training Program for Peers with Severe Mental Illness to Provide One-to-One Services in Taiwan: A Pilot Study

“…The diversity of service settings and absence of compatible control groups under blinded assessments in past studies of peer support services may explain such inconsistent results in term of analyzing group data [ 12 , 13 ]. On the other hand, the peer support worker could benefit from cultivating a hopeful attitude to recovery, knowledge, better social communication or work skills, and mutual support after completing the training program or providing peer support services based on the internship [ 14 , 15 ].…”

“…Peer support services could be a positive tipping point for community mental health care. In the previous studies for Chinese populations [ 14 , 15 ], the satisfying services are reported by service users with SMI who were provided with company in community activities or telephone counseling by a trained peer. The above studies’ results were based on a detailed description of the program’s process and a satisfactory questionnaire survey among service users.…”